For those not up on education trends, multiple intelligences proposes that there are all kinds of minds. Some learn visually. Others learn by doing. Rabbi Landa received an Adult Educator award from the St. Louis Jewish Federation for bringing multiple intelligences to his teachings of Chasidic philosophy.

Rabbi Landa created “Windows to the Soul,” a visual approach to studying Chasidic philosophy. “I am firm believer in the need to take subtle and delicate concepts in Chasidus and lend a visual aspect to it,” said Rabbi Landa. Traditional teaching in the age of television and internet eye candy is not enough. “Garbing abstract learning in an image brings understanding,” he said.

Chabad-Lubavitch has long been known for charting new paths towards effectively disseminating Jewish thought. When the Google was yet an obscure math term, and the Yahooligans were still in high school, and E-bay was a slot at the local dock, Chabad was already teaching Judaism on the ‘net. Rabbi Landa’s absorption of innovative educational theory for use in his Chabad Chasidism classes is part of that tradition. He also was among the first Chabad rabbis to offer university-style courses through Chabad’s Jewish Learning Institute (JLI).

For his quarter-century long commitment to high quality Jewish adult education, Rabbi Landa was selected from among 600 Jewish communal professionals to receive the award from the Jewish Community Professional Association (JProStL). His nominator wrote, “I was extremely impressed with Rabbi Landa’s didactic style and the depth of his knowledge.” As a participant in Rabbi Landa’s recent Jewish Learning Institute course on the Holocaust, the nominator added, “I am truly blown away by his excellent handling of this difficult, but important topic.”

Being honored the very first year JProStL presented awards is more than a personal tribute. “You cannot separate me from Chabad,” said Rabbi Landa. “The fact that the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Professional Association was comfortable with that and selected me as the first one to receive the award makes a statement that they recognize Chabad’s unique role in the area of adult Jewish education.”

On the day of JProStL award reception, before a crowd of 120 St. Louis community members, Rabbi Landa lit the second candle on a menorah that held a branch for each of the eight Jewish professionals honored at the event. “A candle can share its flame without diminishing itself. Jewish communal professionals give selflessly and only strengthen themselves by their giving,” said event chair Jody Rubin.

Lighting the menorah as a symbol of service and bringing light to the world is an act that fits well with Rabbi Landa’s visual approach to teaching. He has also hosted conferences on Talmud and contemporary law that are accredited by the Missouri Bar Association.

JProStL’s Professional Excellence Awards were initiated because “there are so many outstanding professionals working for the Jewish community and not really a venue where their accomplishments are recognized,” said Rubin, who is the associate director of St. Louis’s Jewish Community Center’s Early Childhood Center.

Rubin said all the nominations were high quality. “They were really like tear-jerker nomination forms,” she said. Rubin, who has studied with Rabbi Landa, believes the honor is well deserved. “I personally hold Rabbi Landa in the highest regard.”

For Jewish parents and educators in the twenty first century, there is a constant need to find the balance between celebrating our history and living in the present. A small Torah scroll currently being taken to visit communities around the world is helping to fuse that gap.

Untold Australia is Australia's latest SBS series—featuring the lives of ordinary, and sometimes extraordinary, citizens. Today, a new documentary airs. Outback Rabbis follows the lives of the two families who direct Chabad of RARA (Rural and Regional Australia).

When Cindy Knoll was diagnosed with breast cancer at 31, her youngest had just celebrated her first birthday. Her husband and family kicked in to care for her, and Cindy credits her survival to the tremendous support she received. But not everyone has a system that heals and cares and does the dishes. Based at the Chabad Center for Jewish Life in Merrick, Long Island, the Circle offers support groups, financial backing, home cooked meals, and a shoulder to cry on.

Chabad of New Hampshire had been sharing space with Rabbi Levi and Shternie Krinsky and their nine children. Community events were held in rented venues. Yom Kippur services meant a few mile walk to a downtown location that was big enough to house their congregation.

In response to the anti-Israel BDS movement on American university campuses, Chabad on Campus and Belev Echad have formed a partnership. Together they are bringing IDF veterans to visit campuses across the country and share their stories with faculty and students.

When community members heard about Alan’s special Bar Mitzva, they came together to make it “a Bar Mitzva to remember.” “I don’t know a lot of people, so I had been planning a very small family event,” shares Inna. “But Alan has touched a lot of people through his music. A lot of people know him, and they all came together to make it into something very special.”

The rally featured local politicians and supporters of all nationalities and religions. Topped with kippahs of all stripes, materials, and styles, Berlin stood to attention, loudly demonstrating, “Never again.” Chabad's emissary, Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal stood on the dais at the event.